A Southern California man who smuggled reptiles in his pockets into the United States from Mexico while claiming they were his pets is set to be sentenced Thursday in downtown Los Angeles on federal charges.
Jose Manuel Perez, 34, pleaded guilty in August 2022 to two counts of smuggling goods into the U.S. and one count of wildlife trafficking.
Perez — who faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for each smuggling count and up to five years for wildlife trafficking — admitted to smuggling more than 1,700 wild animals into the U.S. over a six-year period, federal prosecutors said.
The defendant and his accomplices used social media to arrange details of the smuggling operation, which ran from January 2016 to February 2022, according to the plea agreement filed in Los Angeles federal court.
The smuggled animals, which included Yucatan box turtles, Mexican box turtles, baby crocodiles and Mexican beaded lizards, were imported into the United States from Mexico and Hong Kong without declaring them to U.S. customs officials or obtaining permits required by an international treaty known as the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Law enforcement estimates that the wildlife smuggled by Perez had a total market value exceeding $739,000.
For the animals smuggled from Mexico, Perez’s accomplices retrieved the wildlife from Ciudad Juarez International Airport in Mexico and smuggled the animals by car to El Paso, Texas. The accomplices were paid a “crossing fee” for each border crossing — the amount of which depended on the number of animals transported, the size of the package, and the risk of being detected, court papers show.
Perez then had the animals shipped to his family’s home in Oxnard, where he resold the animals to customers across the United States. Throughout the process, Perez used the alias “Julio Rodriguez” to conceal his involvement in the scheme.
On other occasions, Perez himself traveled to Mexico to obtain wildlife. From a rented house in Tijuana, Perez crossed into the United States at the San Ysidro Port of Entry about three-dozen times between February 2021 and February 2022.
On Feb. 25, 2022, Perez was arrested at San Ysidro while attempting to enter the United States with 60 reptiles contained in tied-up bags concealed in his jacket pockets, pants pockets, groin area and pant legs, officials said. Three of the reptiles died during the smuggling attempt.
In May 2022, Perez was ordered released on bond. On June 5, 2022, the day before a hearing, Perez removed his court-ordered ankle bracelet and fled to Tijuana. About 10 days later, Perez was apprehended and brought back to the United States, authorities said.